A surface maintenance machine that includes a squeegee assembly for engaging a surface being maintained. In the prior art it is old to provide a squeegee assembly on a surface cleaning machine and resiliently urge said squeegee assembly downwardly, for example, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,969,674; 3,065,490; 3,649,995; 3,702,488 and 3,833,961. However, in each of the above patents the downward force exerted on the squeegee assembly decreases as the assembly moves downwardly relative the housing (or other structure) on which it is mounted. Further, when a pair of leaf springs are used to mount a side squeegee assembly such as disclosed in some of the above patents, if the springs are set up to give proper squeegee down pressure, they have proved to be weak in torsion which is caused by the friction between the squeegee and the floor and the urging by random side movements of the scrubber head housing. Additionally, with such leaf springs when the front end of the squeegee hits an obstruction that does not move, sometimes the squeegee tears due to the resistance to movement of the squeegee over the obstruction, as the springs act as a parallel arm linkage.
Also, with conventional rear squeegee assemblies on scrubbing machines, it takes a relatively long time to replace worn squeegees. For example, on some prior art machines it takes about 2 to 3 hours to replace the front and rear squeegees of a rear squeegee assembly. This is an undesirable length of time, particularly when the machine is used for cleaning relatively rough surfaces and the squeegees have to be replaced relatively frequently.
In order to overcome problems such as the above, as well as others, this invention has been made.